1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal receiving apparatus, a remote controller, a signal receiving system, and an apparatus to be controlled, and more particularly, to processing operations used in controlling a plurality of devices by a common controller.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, it is widespread practice to control electronic devices such as television receivers (hereinafter referred to as TV receivers) or the like using a remote controller utilizing infrared rays or the like.
In such TV receivers, the number of items to be set upon viewing has been increasing recently in conjunction with an increase in the number of channels involving BS broadcasting, CS broadcasting, etc., starts of new services such as data broadcasting or the like, and so on.
On the other hand, price reduction of TV receivers and development in individuality has been promoting transition from the era of only one TV located in a living room to the era of one TV per room.
Under such circumstances, there are cases wherein the same broadcast program is viewed after a user has moved from one room to another (e.g., after the user has moved from the living room to a bedroom).
In such cases, in order to view the same broadcast program, it was necessary for the user to remember settings concerning the broadcast program being viewed, including a channel, and to again program the settings based on the remembered information after a TV receiver at another room was powered up.
It is, however, often the case that the user fails to remember all the many setting items, as described above. It is not uncommon for the user to forget even only the channel alone after a lapse of some time.
Accordingly, the user has to again perform program searching and tuning to select the channel and to again program the other settings, e.g., settings concerning the quality of image, audio processing, and so on.
Under the above background, the present invention has been accomplished in order to solve the foregoing problem and an object of the invention is to enable easy implementation of optimal operation setting between a plurality of devices to be controlled.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention presents, as one scope thereof, a signal receiving apparatus controlled by a remote controller, comprising:
signal receiving means for receiving television signals;
processing means for processing the television signals received by the signal receiving means, to obtain image signals;
display means for displaying images according to the image signals obtained by the processing means;
transmitting and receiving means for receiving information transmitted from the remote controller and transmitting information to the remote controller; and
control means for performing such control as to transmit setting information concerning operation setting conditions of the signal receiving apparatus to the remote controller in accordance with a command associated with a manipulation of a predetermined key, which is transmitted from the remote controller.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention referring to the drawings which will follow.